The new Levitt Pavilion kicks off its concert season in downtown Dayton TODAY

The summer lineup for this inaugural season of the Levitt Pavilion in Dayton kicks off today!

The Pavilion will offer 34 free concerts Aug. 9 through Oct. 7 by a list of musicians known locally, nationally and internationally playing a range of music that includes jazz, rock, blues, folk, R&B, country, pop, world and children’s music.

Gina Chavez is blending the sounds of the Americas with tension and grace. As a multi-ethnic Latin pop songstress, Chavez's passionate collection of bilingual songs traverse cumbia, bossa nova, vintage pop, indie-folk and reggaetón that takes audiences on a journey through the Americas as she discovers her own Latin roots through music. An eight-time Austin Music Award winner, Gina and her band have opened for Grace Potter, Grammy winners La Santa Cecilia, Gaby Moreno, and Grupo Fantasma, and are winning audiences throughout the U.S. and abroad while on tour as official ambassadors with the U.S. State Department's American Music Abroad program. She took home the Grand Prize in the 2014 John Lennon Songwriting Contest for "Siete-D," a song about her experience volunteering in a gang-dominated suburb of San Salvador where she founded Niñas Arriba, a college fund for young Latinas.

🎵 Paul Brown with special guest Chris Standring

The 2018 line up for the Levitt Pavilion has been announced.

7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 10

Two-time Grammy winning jazz guitarist, engineer, and producer Paul Brown career spans over two decades and includes the release of 8 solo albums and countless collaborations with well-established smooth jazz artists like George Benson, Jeffery Osborne, and Kirk Whahlum. His newest release "One Way Back" features the #1 hit "Put It Where You Want It”. “The Funky Joint” had two #1 hits and was on the jazz charts for a year and a half, solidifying Paul as one of the prominent jazz guitarist on the scene today.

Performances in Dubai, Iceland, Japan, Canada, throughout Europe and the United States he has taken his trademark smooth groove with catchy melodic sound and made his mark on the international jazz scene. The Paul Brown sound is warm and inviting. His music is funky yet has elegance and beauty. He woos the crowd with understated confidence, as every note falls in the perfect place.

Called the "Baby Face of Smooth Jazz", the 2011 Canadian Smooth Jazz "Best Vocalist" Nominee currently has over 60 #1 hits on the Radio & Records' smooth jazz chart, is considered to be the genre's #1 producer and has earned the distinction of having a #1 Radio & Records chart hit as both an artist and producer.

Paul Thorn and Blind Boys of Alabama will be making a stop at downtown Dayton's Levitt Pavilion on August 11
(CONTRIBUTED)

Saturday, 7 p.m. Aug. 11

PaulThorn boasts an innovative and impressive career, pleasing crowds with his muscular brand of roots music—bluesy, rocking and thoroughly Southern American, while speaking universal truths. He has performed on major television shows like Late Night with Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel Live!; been the subject of numerous National Public Radio (NPR) features; charted multiple times on the Billboard Top 100 and Americana Radio Charts; and performed alongside living legends like Bonnie Raitt, Mark Knopfler, Sting, and John Prine among many others.

Referred to as “gospel titans” by Rolling Stone magazine— Blind Boys of Alabama continuously push musical boundaries with remarkable interpretations of traditional gospel and contemporary spirituals by songwriters such as Eric Clapton, Prince and Tom Waits. Celebrated by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) with Lifetime Achievement Awards, inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, and winners of five GRAMMY Awards, they have attained the highest levels of achievement in a career that spans almost 80 years. They’ve recorded with fellow musical greats Lou Reed, Peter Gabriel, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Aaron Neville, Susan Tedeschi, Ben Harper, Patty Griffin and Taj Mahal. Blind Boys of Alabama have appeared on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, Late Night with David Letterman, The Grammy Awards, 60 Minutes, The Colbert Report and many other television shows. Levitt National Tour audiences are in for an electrifying evening of gospel meets blues meets rock!

🎵 Trout Fishing in America

The 2018 line up for the Levitt Pavilion has been announced.

3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 12

Trout Fishing in America is the longstanding, four-time GRAMMY nominated musical partnership of Keith Grimwood and Ezra Idlet. A willingness to at once make fun of our most annoying daily habits, then to touch our hearts with tender and passionate images of family life, is what makes the connection between Trout Fishing in America and its audiences so compelling and poignant. The most recent family release is “Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers”. The CD features tongue twisters, mind-benders, spooky situations and instantly identifiable slices of a kid’s life. In 2017, they changed gears and released a folk/rock CD called “The Strangest Times”. The project is a return to the roots of the band. The songs explore a wide range of feelings and musical styles that blend seamlessly into an inspired and cohesive work. Their infectious mix of folk/pop and family music is the result of their diverse backgrounds as well as growing up in the musical melting pot that is Texas. Their recordings have garnered three National Indie Awards, multiple Parents Choice and NAPPA Gold awards, the American Library Award, as well as four Grammy nominations.

“…the Lennon and McCartney of kids’ music.” – National Public Radio –

“To see these guys, perform live is truly a wonder to behold. They possess a certain raw magic that leaves audiences of all ages entertained to their childhood core.”